crazy kids
by AVioletQueen
Summary: Clarke Griffin has always been the outcast nerd, working too hard and playing too little. All that changes when she ends up on the trip of her life, hiking in the Appalachians with an outlandish group of friends. AU based on the Bollywood movie "Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani".
1. i bought a one-way ticket

"Oh my god, no way."

Clarke is rudely interrupted from checking the groceries in her cart against the list in her hand by a loud, vaguely familiar voice. Looking up, it isn't hard to find the source of the disturbance, dressed in jean shorts, a ratty t-shirt, and boots that looked like they belong in a club rather than on the floor of a Target.

"Clarke Griffin!" The long-haired girl exclaims, tossing said hair over her shoulder before giving her a grin. Clarke smiles back uneasily, the gears in her mind going at top speed as she tries to remember the name of the girl in front of her.

"—Octavia Blake, right?" she asks finally, arriving at the name just before the silence would've grown awkward. Octavia Blake had been somewhat infamous at the college they'd both gone to, with the raging parties she threw and the boys' hearts she broke. She'd definitely not been a part of Clarke's crowd – but then again, Clarke never really had a crowd. Following in her mother's footsteps and studying pre-med had put a significant damper on her social life – and anyway, no one in college ever wanted to hang out with the nerd. At least, not the kind of nerd she was. She didn't game or program or win medals in quiz bowl. She just… crammed.

Though now is not the time to feel mopey and insignificant. Especially now that her mother has rejoined her, a hand at her shoulder as she starts pushing her cart into one of the lines. Octavia pushes her own in the line next to her and continues talking excitedly.

"You were that pre-med whiz, right? What are you doing now that we've graduated?" she asks excitedly.

"Just… studying in preparation for med school," Clarke admits with a shrug. It's true, they had just graduated a couple weeks ago, but that didn't give Clarke a reason to waste all her time. (Not that she really knew what she would do if she didn't have her books to distract her.)

"What are you studying, Octavia?" her mom asks politely, and Clarke very nearly groans. As great as Abby Griffin can be, she has very distinct opinions on what was worthwhile to study. And Octavia Blake can be counted on to not fit within that box of acceptable educational pursuits.

"Oh, I'm not studying anymore. Got my degree in Creative Writing and got the hell out of there, am I right?" Luckily, the Blake girl seems immune to the judgment radiating from Mrs. Griffin at the moment. "I'm actually heading out to hike up this trail in the Appalachians tomorrow. I'm going with a couple friends of mine – actually, you should know them, Clarke. Monty Green and Jasper Jordan? They were in our class. So was Raven Reyes, and she's coming."

"Right." Clarke gives her a tight smile and shrugs a shoulder. The names are familiar to her, but she's definitely never talked to any of them before. "Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, definitely. Anyway, see you around! Have fun studying!" And though her voice is cheery and genuine, as is her wave as she moves to pay for her groceries and leave, Clarke can't help but feel a little miffed as she waits in line. As if anyone can have fun studying when faced with a blatant reminder of how much of the whole world is out there that they haven't seen.

"Excuse me, miss?"

Clarke is snapped out of her reverie by the cashier in the other line. "Um, are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, your friend left something here. Could you get it to her?" the teenager asks, waving a brochure in the air before passing it over to her. She hesitates, biting back the knee-jerk reaction to say the two of them weren't really friends, then takes the pamphlet from him as her mom pays for their groceries.

_Appalachian Trail Adventures!_, the front of the brochure exclaims, and in a momentary bout of overwhelming curiosity, she stuffs the brochure into her purse, with the full intention of looking it over more closely that night.

Maybe it's time for her to go out and see the world for herself.

"Oh, and we met a friend of Clarke's today at the supermarket."

Abby Griffin is detailing the entire minutiae of their day to Marcus Kane, a family friend who's come over for dinner yet again. Ever since her father had died a couple years ago, Kane has been over at her house more and more for dinner. Clarke doesn't particularly like him, though he seems to be a fan of her. How much of that is him simply pretending, so that he could get on her mom's good side? Clarke guesses quite a lot. Her mom is a pretty influential member on City Council, after all, besides being one of the best doctors in town.

"Not a friend, Mom," Clarke reminds her dully as she pushes her food around on her plate. She can't wait for this dinner to be over so that she can get to her room and look at that brochure. It's been the only thing on her mind all evening, after returning from the supermarket and helping her mom make the meal.

"Honestly, I'm kind of glad to hear that," Abby says seriously, and Clarke has to focus hard to prevent herself from rolling her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with studying Creative Writing, but how is that girl going to get a job?"

"Absolutely. The job market is tough enough these days, even with qualifications," Kane says, and Clarke spears a carrot on her fork with slightly more force than necessary.

"And she's not even aware of her situation. This girl is going off on some trip to the mountains when she should be looking for work." Abby shrugs and takes a drink of water. "All I can say is that I'm glad Clarke isn't anything like that."

"What do you mean?" Clarke asks, knowing her tone is snappier than it should be. But at the moment, she's physically unable to restrain herself. "You're glad that I don't have any friends who I could actually go on a trip with? You're glad I've never done anything with my life except study? Wow, Mom, thanks."

"Clarke!" Her mom doesn't raise a hand against her, but the shocked tone of her voice is the closest thing to a slap that Clarke's ever experienced. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that I'm 22 and I've been living the life that you've planned out for me since I was born, and I'm tired of it." There's silence at the table for a minute before Clarke sets her silverware down and gets to her feet. "I'm not hungry anymore," she announces before turning on her heel and heading to her room, ignoring her mother's calls after her. Kane demands that she come back to the table, and she escapes her to her room even faster, slamming the door behind her.

Running her hands through her hair, she collapses on her bed with a grunt, staring up at her ceiling. Usually she can keep her temper under check when her mom and Kane start talking like this, but today has proved to be a notable exception.

At least now she can take a look at the brochure. She pulls herself up into a sitting position and reaches for her purse, fishing out the informational pamphlet before actually reading it. It details the flora and fauna one can expect to find during a hike, different gear, hiking trails . . .

And then at the back of the pamphlet, scrawled in messy, loopy handwriting, are a series of notes, the first item jotted down being a URL. Clarke immediately pulls out her laptop, going to the website that it leads to. A picture of a beautiful view from the peak of one of the mountains heads a page, and though there's plenty of other information on the page, all she can see is the large orange button that proclaims "Book Your Trip Today!"

She's about to think it over when she decides she doesn't want to. She has money from her summer job as a research aide last year. She doesn't have anything she has to do in the next couple weeks, and she really, really wants to piss off her mom right now.

So she hits the button, signing up for the group trip that leaves the train station at 10 AM – the same one that Octavia and her friends are on. Clarke doesn't realize she's holding her breath until the confirmation page appears and she lets out a long sigh.

She's really doing this. Now, after she's spent her money, isn't the time to get faint-hearted about this. Downstairs, there are faint sounds of her mother and Kane putting the dishes away, and she ignores them.

After all, it's time for her to pack.

The commotion at the train station that morning is ridiculous, as different guides try to assemble their tour groups before they board the train. Clarke pulls her large, heavy suitcase through the crowds, looking for her train number and shifting the backpack slung over her shoulders every so often. It isn't a hiking bag, but then again, she hadn't had time last night to run out and get all the necessary supplies for this trip.

Just another sign that this is a bad idea, her mind tells her, and she shakes her head to try to banish the thought. Even if this is a bad idea, she's 22 and she's never left home on her own before, other than to go to university. She has a lifetime of mistakes to make, and if this was going to be one of them, so be it.

Arriving at the correct platform is easy enough, and soon she's checked in with her tour and is all ready to board the train. It's at that moment that she realizes how heavy her huge suitcase is, and how hard it's going to be to get it onto the train. Biting her lip, she looks around for someone she can ask for help, but her tour guide is busy checking someone else in.

In the end, she does find someone – though it's more like he finds her, the way he tries to exit the train where she's trying to enter. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, um, could you help me get my suitcase on the train?" she asks, looking him over. Something about him looks like she should know him, but whether it's the dark hair, the distinct muscles in his arms, or the way he carries himself, she has no idea.

"You're here for the ten day Appalachian hike?" he asks, and when she nods her head, he snorts. "Then why did you pack like you're going to spend a month in the Bahamas? Girls. My sister's literally the same."

"… you're Bellamy Blake," she blurts out, instead of, say, responding to him like a normal person would. His name just strikes her so abruptly that she can't help but blurt it out. At his totally lost look, she explains further. "We went to the same college. I was in your sister's class."

"Oh, you must be Harper, right?" Clarke frowns instinctively, and he backtracks. "Wait – I meant Mel."

"Clarke Griffin," she says shortly, holding out her hand to shake.

"Right, of course, Clarke Griffin," he says with an air of newfound knowledge, shaking her hand. "You're Monroe's cousin or something."

"No, I'm not," she says exasperatedly. Blake had thought himself way too cool in college to get to know people like her, and the age difference definitely didn't help. "Trust me, you don't know me. Can you just help me get my suitcase on the train?"

"Well, what's in it for me?" he asks lightly, and she can't help rolling her eyes. "I'm not a porter."

"Good, cause I'm not going to pay you," she retorts. "Look, it's not that hard. You just help me right now, and we don't have to talk to each other again. That's what's in it for you."

He doesn't respond to that. Instead, he just raises his hands in surrender before leaning to pick up her suitcase and drag it into the train behind him. He lifts it into the luggage compartment with relative ease, and Clarke should be relieved, but there's something about the look on her face that worries her.

"Thanks. I'll just be going now," she says hesitantly, pointing over her shoulder with her thumb at the seating compartment their group has been assigned to.

"Go ahead," he says magnanimously, and she knows something is wrong. She just can't figure out what.

Entering her seating compartment, she sees that most of the seats are full. In fact, there are only two seats left, across from Octavia and a long-haired girl that Clarke thinks she knows.

It hits her as she approaches the seat, Bellamy following behind her with an easy slouch in his posture, hands in his jacket pockets. "Wow, look at that. It looks like we're going to be seatmates for the next ten hours, princess."

"Clarke Griffin? You're here?" Octavia demands, turning to make eye contact with Clarke. "Oh my gosh, this is going to be so fun."

Clarke is starting to regret ever going with her mom to the supermarket in the first place.


	2. over the worst of it

It's been an hour, and Clarke has been doing a pretty good job of avoiding conversation with anyone. Even when Jordan and Green beg to sit with them and they've crammed in six people in seating meant for four, Clarke just plugs her earphones in and thanks goodness that she's sitting near the window with a view.

It's not that she doesn't want to make friends. It's just that she knows she's going to be awkward with this group. The Blakes are party people, Jordan and Green smoke and drink like it's going out of style, and Raven Reyes . . .

Well, Clarke knows her tangentially, in that the first guy she ever kissed was going out with Raven when he'd kissed her. They'd broken up since, though, and Clarke doesn't feel the need to let her know what happened, but it's still unnerving to be sitting across from her.

So she's got her earphones in instead, listening to one of her dad's old rock albums at full volume. She's gotten a few songs into the London Calling album when someone rudely rips out one of her earbuds.

"C'mon, Princess. We're starting a game of Never Have I Ever, and you're playing with us." Of course, it's Bellamy Blake with her earbud in his fingers, loud music still blaring from it.

"I don't drink," she says, glancing around at the others before tugging her earphone back from him.

"Hold on a minute!" Green says right before she puts the earphone back in. She hesitates as he digs through his backpack before pulling out a juice box and holding it up proudly. "We drink whiskey, you drink apple juice. It's basically the same thing."

The others roar with laughter, and Clarke can feel herself flushing, just slightly. A part of her wants to say no – a large part (probably the majority part) – but she reminds herself that it's supposed to be fun. It's a game, after all. And she won't be drinking. So she turns off her music and nods, trying to give the others a smile. "Sure. I'm in."

"Great," Jordan responds as he pulls out red Solo cups from his backpack, and as he pours out alcohol for the others, Clarke briefly wonders if Green and Jordan have any hiking supplies at all between the two of them. Judging by what she's seen, she wouldn't be surprised if their bags were filled with bottles and weed.

"Alright, who's going to start?" Octavia asks as Green pours Clarke's juice into a cup.

"I've got one," Bellamy offers, leaning back in his position with a smirk. "Never have I ever fallen in love."

"Starting off with the real tough ones, huh?" Jordan asks with a grin, but he doesn't take a sip. Green and Reyes lift their cups to their lips, and Octavia's eyes widen immediately.

"Raven, you were in _love_ with-?"

"Shut up!" the girl protests, rolling her eyes. "I was a kid, and I was into him. You don't do things by halves when you're a teenager."

"I managed," Bellamy says mischievously, and Reyes rolls her eyes yet again.

"Yeah, that's because you're a heartless jerk." Weirdly enough, the words sound affectionate to Clarke's ears, even though the girl is aiming a kick at Bellamy's shins as she says it.

"Alright, okay, my turn," Jordan says, raising his glass. "Never have I ever had a boyfriend."

"Damnit, Jasper," Reyes protests after she takes another sip, along with Octavia and Green. "That's foul play. You can't use your lack of ability to get consistently laid against us like this."

Clarke's grin is a little tight as everyone else laughs, but no one seems to be looking at her. Ducking her head, she stares down at the beverage in her cup as Green clears his throat.

"Here, let's do something more fair. Never have I ever met a celebrity."

Bellamy and Jordan immediately trade looks and groan before both taking a sip. Of course, Octavia's on them immediately.

"Who have you two met?"

"We ran into this comedian at the supermarket. Demetri Martin," Bellamy explains.

Jordan adds on, "we're… not actually a hundred percent sure that it was him, but it's a good story, so let's just pretend we totally talked to him and got autographs or whatever."

"You two are fucking ridiculous," Octavia says with a laugh. "Alright, my turn, right? Never have I ever smoked weed."

"And you call ours unfair?" Jordan asks playfully as all the boys take a sip. Clarke bites her lip and abruptly gets to her feet.

"I… need to go make a call. Um, sorry. I guess I quit or whatever," she says nervously before setting her cup down and leaving their booth, stepping out into a different compartment.

Leaning against the wall, she sighs, blinking back the stinging at the corner of her eyes. She hadn't realized that playing a simple game would make it so obvious that she hasn't done anything with her life. With a long sigh, she takes out her phone, unlocking it to find a barrage of notifications from her mother and Kane. She snorts roughly before texting her mom.

On the train. Sorry this was so abrupt. Be back in a couple weeks.

And before she can turn off the phone, her mom texts back. She pauses for a couple seconds, then hits the notification with her thumb to read the text.

Have fun. 3

If only she knew how to.

Ten hours is a long, long time, but with a combination of napping, listening to music, and studying – yes, studying, despite the incredulous look on Bellamy's face when she pulls out a neuroscience textbook from her backpack – she manages to make it.

It's been a tiring day, having to interact with and talk to and smile at people she barely knows. Once they get to the hotel and her suitcase and backpack are neatly put away in the room she shares with Reyes and Octavia, she's ready to curl up on her bed with a good book.

Which is the exact moment, of course, the two other girls enter the room, arms slung around each other's shoulders. "Clarke!" Octavia yells, far too loudly for the small room they're in. "We're hitting up the bars in town tonight. You want to come along?"

"We know you don't drink," Reyes says immediately, holding out her free hand placatingly. "But you can have fun without drinking, per se."

"And you need a designated driver?" Clarke asks pointedly. Judging by the way the two girls start laughing, she's hit the nail on the head.

"Please, will you? It'll only be fun if you come."

"Right, because if I come, all of you can get drunk." She's about to say no – after all, there's a very interesting Agatha Christie mystery waiting for her on her bedside table – but this trip isn't about saying no. Despite how disappointing the train ride was, she can't give up on having fun now. "Alright, let's go. Where are the rental vans?"

"Yes!" Octavia crows, pumping her fists in the air. "They're right in front – you go with Raven and I'll get the boys." She scampers off, and Raven gives her a smile. Clarke can't quite smile back – this was exactly the one-on-one situation she wanted to avoid with this girl who had once dated Finn – so she brushes past her out into the hallway.

"So Clarke, you were pre-med in college? What was your major?" she asks, and Clarke's thrown back to all of the freshman forced bonding activities she'd had to attend in her first year.

"I double-majored. Neuroscience and biology. There was lots of overlap, but it was interesting," she explains, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Same here! I mean, not the science part. I don't have a head for that sort of thing. But I'm double-majoring mechanical and electrical engineering. It's killer – I haven't actually graduated yet, gotta finish up my fifth year this fall and next spring – but I love the work."

There's something endearing about the way she talks about her passion, Clarke notes. Studying something and really loving it are two different things altogether. Not to say that she doesn't like her own major – she's certainly excited to be a doctor. It's been her dream for her entire life. But Raven looks like she's had a lot more fun with her dream than Clarke's had.

"Thanks a lot for driving us, by the way," the other girl continues. "I know it's no fun to be the one sober person, but we'll try not to get too bad. It's just been a while since the six of us were together.

"I totally understand," Clarke is quick to assure her. "I don't want to intrude or anything."

"You're not intruding, idiot. We all want to get to know you. Even Bellamy, and he thinks he's better than everyone when he meets them for the first time." Her tone is matter-of-fact as she reaches the rental, unlocking it with the keys in her hand.

"How can you tell?" she asks as she slides into the driver's seat, waiting for Raven to sit down next to her and pass her the keys.

"You mean, that Bellamy wants to know you? I don't know," she says with a shrug. "I'm just getting this vibe." After a short pause, she adds on, teasing, "oh, and he said he'd only come out with us tonight if you came too."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's because he wants to make fun of me," Clarke says exasperatedly as she backs the car out. "I suppose we have to pick the rest of them up, hmm?"

Raven gestures extravagantly at the windshield. "Lead the way."

The bar the six of them end up at is dark, a little grimy, and exactly the sort of place Clarke would've stayed far away from usually. Instead, she's leaning against a wall, watching as Bellamy misses the cups for the fifteenth time in a row. Green and Jordan groan, the girls cheer, and Clarke finds herself actually smiling as Bell takes another drink, visibly moving from tipsy to drunk.

"I can't believe you're losing when you have more people on your team," Octavia chuckles, pressing the back of her hand to her lips to stifle her giggles.

"You gave us the worst guy in the room, please," Jordan protests, rolling his eyes.

"How is this even so hard?" Clarke asks Bellamy playfully, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Shut the fuck up, Griffin," he slurs, shooting her a grumpy look. "As if you've ever played this before."

"Come on, then, Blake. Let me play," she says boldly, approaching their team. "If I miss, you can drink for me. And it's not like I'm going to miss any more than you would've."

"Fighting words, Griffin," he taunts. "And anyway, this is the guys team."

"Actually, at this point? We'll take anyone," Jordan cuts in quickly. "I don't think you realize how badly we're losing, Bell." Green's puppy dog eyes only affirm his words, and Clarke laughs as she takes her place at the table.

"You're going down, Clarke," Raven calls from the other end of the table, easily sinking a ball in one of their cups. Jordan drains it before handing her the ball, and she takes a deep breath before aiming.

A flick of her wrist, and the first ball lands cleanly in the middle cup of Raven and Octavia's arrangement. The two boys yell loudly and thump her on the back as Bellamy crosses his arms in the periphery of Clarke's vision.

Another ball is pressed into her hand, and she narrows her eyes before letting it fly. This one bounces off the table before landing in another cup, and the two girls groan.

"I take it back," Raven complains after downing one of the drinks. "I want Clarke on our team."

"Seconded," Octavia says with a pout.

"The early bird gets the worm," Monty says proudly, slinging his arm around Clarke's shoulders. This sort of casual touch is unfamiliar to Clarke, but definitely not unwanted. "Or, well, the terrible team gets the unexpectedly good player."

Instead of trying to be eloquent, Jasper just sticks his tongue out before downing a cup, even though no balls have been thrown. Clarke glances at Bellamy, unaware of exactly how wide she's beaming, and she sense something like approval in his gaze.

Not that she's looking for it. But it's good to know that it's there.

Mornings at the base of the Appalachians are incredibly peaceful.

This is what Clarke discovers, sitting on the balcony of their hotel room with a hot tea and a notebook with physiology definitions. The air around her is quiet and peaceful, though she suspects that has more to do with the hangovers that everyone is nursing rather than the morning itself.

Last night was… surprisingly fun. Even without drinking alcohol, clinching a win for the boys had made Monty and Jasper worship her – and Blake had ruffled her hair, though she wasn't sure whether that was because of her performance or because he was so drunk he didn't know where his hands were landing.

But when it came down to it, she was still happy to sit here quietly and go over her work. It had been a good experience, but it hadn't changed her.

As time goes on, people slowly begin to stir, and she can start to hear murmurs of movement in the hallway. And by noon, lunchtime, the only person of the six in their group still asleep is Octavia.

"We're here to wake a certain Blake up!" Monty and Jasper announce as Clarke opens the door for them after they knock.

"Good luck. She's face down in bed, still in her outfit from last night," Clarke says with a little laugh as they traipse into the room, making a beeline for Octavia's single bed.

"It's okay, we got this," Monty assures her as Jasper grabs Octavia's phone, going through her music. Finally, he seems to find a song, as he smirks at the other two before plugging the phone into portable speakers.

A heavy drum line begins to play, and he sets the speaker and phone down on the bedside table in favor of jumping around with Monty as Octavia groans. Clarke immediately recognizes the song that's blaring when Monty and Jasper start singing along. Chelsea Dagger, the Fratellis. Only one of the most played songs on her own phone.

"Oh my god, shut up," Octavia protests, trying to tug her covers over her head as they simultaneously pull them off her. In the midst of their flailing, the girl knocks the speaker off the sidetable into the wall, causing the song to abruptly stop and Jasper to drop to his knees in horror.

Monty slowly trails off with his singing, and the two boys look at each other in surprise when they both realize they've forgotten the words without the Fratellis to back them up.

Clarke looks between them in surprise before continuing. Her voice isn't great, but this song is _iconic_. How could anyone forget the words? "Gave me gear, thank you dear, bring your sister over here…?"

"You know this song?" Jasper demands incredulously.

"Who doesn't, idiots?" Octavia asks, having finally sat up in bed. "Let her dance with me just for the hell of it." Clarke grins and nods in response, and Octavia smiles back.

Before throwing one of her pillows and hitting Monty straight in the face. "That's for waking me up." Jasper isn't fast enough to dodge the second pillow that comes his way. "That's for forgetting the words." Octavia jumps out of bed, stretching slightly before she reaches out to take Clarke's hand and pull her along beside her. "Come on. Get ready and come with us."

Even if Clarke wanted to refuse, she couldn't argue with the iron grip that the younger Blake has around her wrist. And she's surprised to find that the voice inside her mind that usually warns her against silly things like, say, hiking up a mountain, isn't piping up to give her useless scoldings today.

"I'm coming. And I think you're the one who needs to get more ready than me," Clarke teases Octavia, "starting with your outfit. These clothes stink."

"Point taken," the girl says, opening her suitcase and retrieving a shirt and pants. "Wait for me, then, okay? Don't leave without me."

"We'll wait too," the boys claim, sitting on the edge of her bed and watching her as she slips into the bathroom.

"Don't care. You can go. Clarke just has to stay," the girl calls before slamming the door shut.

"I will," Clarke calls back, a stupid kind of smile on her face as she retrieves her notebook from the balcony and puts it away. Hearing Octavia say something like that is way nicer than expected. And for the first time since she booked this ticket, she feels that maybe, she's more excited than nervous about what's going to happen next.


End file.
